


Interlude 1 - Tokoyami

by Dr_Fumbles_McStupid



Series: No peace without a passion [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 16:05:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15710619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dr_Fumbles_McStupid/pseuds/Dr_Fumbles_McStupid
Summary: Tokoyami has seen the hazy figures his whole life.





	Interlude 1 - Tokoyami

**Author's Note:**

> big thanks to cuttlefishhero for the beta!

Tokoyami had seen the hazy figures for as long as he could remember. He had distant memories of a friendly Twi'lek who would whisper quiet tales of her times on a trade ship to him on the nights where he couldn’t sleep. Curled up in the blankets of his cot he would listen as he drifted off, filled with contentment and the safety of his friend being near him. Although she stayed near him, he never reached out to touch her. Maybe it was because even as a youngling, he tended to avoid touch, or maybe it was because, even at that tender age, he knew that if he reached out to her, his hand would just pass through her. Zula wasn’t always there, but often when Tokoyami was out playing in the greenery that surrounded his house, he would see her form flickering from out of the corner of his eye, there and then gone. Sometimes she would appear more solid, more rooted in this plane, and other times, when she had a faraway melancholy look in her eyes, she would be so faint all Tokoyami could see was her outline.

The day he left his planet for good, he remembered the sun shone brightly, warming his in a way that should have been comforting, but the heat on his back just made him all the more aware of everything he was leaving behind. He looked down at the brown earth parting under his feet as he dragged his boots, reluctant to lift them all the way, to let go of Rishi, of the only home he had ever known. After what felt like ages, but was simultaneously not nearly long enough, THe Jedi master leading him Taking him away stopped. Fumikage lifted his head and took in the sight of the sleek silver ship, the ramp descending, waiting to bring him to his new home. He turned to look at his home one last time, to take in everything, there was a feeling deep within him, that told him he would not return here for many, many years, and though he did not know where it came from, he knew somehow that it spoke the truth. His parents had not accompanied him to the ship, but Zula was there, watching him with a wistful smile on her face. He glanced between her and the ship, pulled between the call of the unknown, and the urge to just stay with the familiar. The Jedi Master was waiting at the top of the ramp, motioning for him to join. He knew in his young mind that this was a turning point, but he could not decide which way to turn. He stood, mired in his indecision until Zula’s light voice carried across the clearing “Great things lie ahead of you young one, Go and meet your destiny”. He took in her words and knew them to be true. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ingrain the smell of home into his very being, then he squared his shoulders and continued towards the ship.

 

* * *

 

He had thought all Twi'lek were incorporeal like Zula. When he arrived at the Jedi Temple he started to think that maybe they weren't. There were others like her here, not Twi'lek, they were of all different species, but they were hazy like her. He remembers the Knight who took him to the creche looking at Tokoyami strangely when he weaved his way carefully down the corridor making sure he didn't run into any of them.

Fumikage was a quiet child by nature, so no one noticed anything at first. The Creche master thought it was a little odd that the Rishii would spend long periods of time gazing at nothing, but it wasn't anything that concerned her.

There were so many of them here, these people he couldn’t quite categorize yet. They pointed and whispered as he passed, and later sought him out to speak to, their voices filled with excitement. Tokoyami didn't understand why no one else talked to them. Most of them were really nice and they taught him so many interesting things. They told him of different meditation techniques that helped him soar pass his other chrechmates with control over the force.

Tokoyami was playing a game of hover ball with the other children in the dragon clan when he decided to try something that Master Illura had worked on with him. He focused on the ball intently as it soared towards him and time almost seemed to slow down as he reached out to the force.

His hand moved in a circular motion and he could see the eddies of the force twisting, leading it down the path that he directed. Pressure built and built until suddenly released. Time returned to normal speed, and the ball flew across the room and smashed into the wall on. Stillness permeated the air, everyone frozen as they all stared at the dent the ball made in the durasteel wall, then Ashido cheered and suddenly all of his chrechemates were crowding him, excited voices rushing over him, praising him, telling him how cool that was, asking how he had done it.

It wasn't until later in the day that one of his teachers came to him and asked him where he had learned that.

“I learned it from Master Illura.” He replied without hesitation. Deceit was not something a Jedi should have skill in, and it never occurred to him that his friends were anything but normal.

Master Scerra stared at him, her face completely blank. “Where did you hear that name?” She asked, her voice as frigid as a winter storm.

Tokoyami was confused by her reaction, did Mater Scerra disapprove of Master Illura? “She told me her name herself.” He replied steadily. Master Scerra continued to stare at him for a moment and then stalked away, her robes swishing behind her. It wasn't until much later that he learned that Master Illura was Master Scerra’s late mentor. She had died a cycle back. But his teacher never forgot the conversation and Fumikage could always sense a faint air of anger around her whenever she was near him. After that, he made sure he didn’t tell anyone else about his friends.

 

* * *

 

Tokoyami understood now that the beings he saw around him were decreased. He knew that the reason he only saw Zulu while he was on Rishi was because only people who were strong in the force existed in this ethereal form after death. Hence the greater numbers of them here. He trained himself to keep his eyes away from them when he was around other people. It was not right to judge, a Jedi should accept all, but he had learned that even though these were things Jedi aspired to, Not everyone followed these teaching.

He was always quiet, but now he rarely spoke, and he took great care choosing his words, afraid that something he said would give him away. He knew deceit was not a trait an aspiring Jedi should have, but no one else could see them, and he did not want anyone else to treat him like Master Scerra.

He only spoke to the ghosts when he was sure no one else was around. He had a few friends in the creche, but he spent most of his time with the shadows that haunted the temple. They had great wisdom to impart, and Fumikage drank it all in, learning as much as he could.

His teachers told him he was a ‘Prodigy” and that he was “naturally gifted’. He garnered jealousy from some of his age mates, but they and his teachers mostly left him alone. They saw him as a solitary creature, which far from the truth.

Not only did the specters teach him how to master the force, but they also showed him some of the forgotten reaches of the temple. He knew that the Temple was built on top of an older Jedi temple, but he never really wondered about it until the specters took him there.

He visited the lower levels frequently, gazing at the empty halls painted with slowly decaying murals depicting scenes from a history he did not know. Sometimes one of his friends would accompany him and tell him tales of the days they inhabited this temple, or what the murals actually depicted. But mostly he simply went by himself.

This was one of those days. He was done with his classes for the day, and the noise of the Dragon clan was overwhelming, so he retreated to the silence of the empty halls. Even without the specters there, there was still a sense of peace. The Halls emanated with the flow of the force and it calmed him. It moved slower here, like the ripples in a pond, where in the temple it felt like the flow of a river.

He wandered past the stone pillars, the occasional statue of a long forgotten hero, deeper and deeper he went, time passing by as if he was in a trance. The shadows grew, taking up more of the space in the halls as he worked his way further in. He was lower in the old temple than he had ever been, and the light could not penetrate these depths. That realization made him stop as coldness washed over him.

Possibly he should not have wandered so far without a guide. He grasped for the force, attempting to call to one of his friends, but he felt nothing, he couldn’t sense any of them, and that gave him pause. He was attuned enough to the feeling of the ghosts that he could usually sense them from a great distance, but when he reached out, he could feel nothing but a vast emptiness. A sense of unease gradually engulfed him and he turned to leave. He should not be here. But before he could take a step he felt a presence behind him.

He had never felt anything like it, It was monstrously powerful, something greater than the shades that inhabited the rest of the temple, but more than that it was disturbing. A roiling mass of darkness emanated from it, and it felt slimy when it brushed by him. He knew he should run, but his body would not move, his feet frozen in place. A slow whispering curled into his ears, and against his will, his body slowly turned around. Out of the darkness a tall, lithe figure manifested, but the black hood draped over its face obscured any of its features.

“It has been a very long time since someone has ventured this deep into my domain.” The figure spoke. His voice seemed to slither around Tokoyami, echoing through the room and striking at Tokoyami from every direction. “And an even longer time since someone who could see me was here.” The figure looked up and Tokoyami saw a male Togruta, his skin the color of old blood, a prominent scar spanned from his left ear to the cleft of his chin. But Fumikage could not look away from his eyes. They burned like a pit of molten lava, and the youngling had never seen anything like it, his gut roiled at the sight.

“What has brought you to explore this far into the depths of this temple. Surely you noticed that none of the others ever venture this far, they know that nothing good would happen if they crossed my path.” The Man’s mouth opened in a rictus of a smile, and Tokoyami saw that he had razor sharp teeth. There were other Togruta in the temple and none of them had teeth like that. A sudden horrifying realization hit him, the man has sharpened the teeth himself, and once the thought came, images of this… this being ripping apart flesh swirled through his mind.  
The man glided closer to the Rishi and he seemed more solid than any of the other specters he had met. The cloaked figure reached out a hand and grasped his chin in an iron grip. Tokoyami’s mind was blank for a moment until he realized that it had TOUCHED him, and his mind became a whirling mass of panic. They had never been able to physically interact with him. The only times he had tried, their forms had phased right through him.

It seemed that the man had pulled Tokoyami’s thoughts straight from his head as he said. “Yes, the Jedi’s method of attaining everlasting life is vastly inferior to the rituals that the Sith use to achieve the same goals.” The man looked at him, a glimmer of interest in his eyes that quickly grew the longer he focused on Fumikage. His eyes bore into the younglings soul, flaying away layer after layer until he could see his core. There was a tension coiling inside Tokoyami, he could feel the man crawling deeper into his mind, but despite the heavy darkness that surrounded him, he could feel the whispers of the force trying to warn him, but he could. Not. move.

“You have a strength to you. I think you would make an adequate vessel.” The man crooned into his ear and then all he knew was pain.

Every inch of him was on fire, wisps of darkness forced their way through his pores and settled in amongst his muscles and bones. He felt it wind it’s way deeper and deeper into him and he was in such agonizing pain, he tried to scream, but it was locked in his throat. The darkness grew and grew and he couldn’t contain it, His body was not meant to hold such vast stores of power and he knew it was going to burst. The tides kept rising and rising, and suddenly it wasn’t just in his body, he could feel the man whispering in his mind, pushing with crushing force.  
Tokoyami realized he was loosing, this thing was going to force his mind out and take over his body. He grasped desperately for the force, tried to wrap himself in a cocoon that could push this darkness, this THING out, out, out, but the Force kept slipping through his fingers. Despair overwhelmed him as he realized he was going to lose. This creature Sith his mind whispered was going to take his body, He could feel it’s bloodlust, and an image of the temple burning, filled with the corpses of his teachers and his friends filled his mind.

He realized that if the sith won, that would be his future. A living puppet that would bring death and darkness to everything he touched. He could not let that happen. He reached out to the force and opened himself to it completely. He felt it rushing around him, covering him in a comforting warmth, but then he realized it wasn’t pushing the Sith out, it was locking it in. He fought against it horrified by the thought of having that thing inside of him, a presence in him that would corrupt him. But the force stood firm in its decision and whispered to him that this was the only way, that this was his path to walk, and he acquiesced.

After what felt like millennia, everything stopped and Tokoyami crumbled to the ground, his muscles too weak to hold him upright. He laid there and breathed, the tile chill against his overheated body. He focused on breathing in and out, trying to let the feeling of every molecule screaming in pain, wash over and through him, releasing it to the force. He didn’t know how long he laid there, but everything was sore when he stood up. He walked back towards the temple proper on shaky legs, exhausted down to his very bones. He made his way through the old temple in a daze, stuck in his own head until he noticed loud murmuring. He looked up and saw them, all of them. The spirits who haunted the temple.

Master Illura was the first to race towards him, but when she got close she stopped, staring at him in dawning horror, and then her face morphed into a mask of rage. “Give him back to us Mallas! We will not let you pass.” She screamed and Tokoyami felt a wave of pure energy crash into him. He grunted and fell to his knees.

In a weak voice, he called out. “It is I Illura”

“Do not try to fool me Sith, I may not have been able to vanquish you by myself, but all of us should be able to!” she spat.

“Illura, It is true. He tried to overtake me, but I fought. I reached out to the force, I do not know what happened… But he is trapped within me now.” He raised his head to stare his mentor in the eye. She looked at him, and once again he felt the pressure of someone looking into his mind. After a long moment, she looked away and her face crumbled. “Fumikage, I don’t …” She broke off as she brought her hand up to her mouth to contain the keening that was trying to come out. Tokoyami pushed himself onto his feet, swaying dangerously, he was so tired that he actually reached out to comfort her, but his hand passed right through the woman, and she gasped and jumped back, her eyes met his and they were full of pain.

“Tokoyami, this isn’t the end. He isn’t contained. You- You will have to fight for dominance for the rest of your life. He, Mallas, will not go quietly.”

Tokoyami nodded his head, he should be feeling something, anger, terror, but he couldn't think through the haze of exhaustion that clouded his mind. He took her words and let them wash over him and he walked out of the old temple.

 

* * *

 

That night, his dreams were full of horror. Blood and gore and so much anger consumed him, it was everywhere. He could Hear Mallus whispering in his ear. Telling him he wasn't strong enough, that it would be so much easier if he gave in. He thrashed under his covers, back bending and his arms thrashing erratically until he threw himself out of the bed. The impact of hitting the floor woke him, but the struggle didn't stop. He could feel Mallus rising, pushing and pushing against his mind. He was going to lose, Mallus was going to escape. He pushed himself up and rushed out of his room, trying to get somewhere, anywhere where people weren't. The pressure was building and building until he fell to his knees and it burst out of him. A dark energy swirled around him and he heard Mallus laughing, pushing Tokoyami inside of himself. He thought all hope was lost but then he heard her.

“Tokoyami, you have to fight, feel the light around you and pull him back!” He couldn't see through the roiling darkness, but he knew it was Illura. And he looked to the force, seeing the currents of it all around him, far more clearly than he ever had. He saw a golden thread and he grabbed it, pulling it toward him and wrapped it around the darkness pulling it thrashing and growling until it was once again within him.

He sat in the darkness for a long time. Before he got up and left.

 

* * *

 

The shades who were once his friends shied away from him, knowing what laid inside him. He didn’t blame them. The longer he held Mallus inside him, the more he knew about him, and he was a horrendous creature. A sith of old, who delighted in pain. Most nights his dreams were filled with memories, or possibly dream from Mallus, and he fought every day to contain him.  
He held his head high and bore it. He brought this burden upon himself and now he needed to shoulder it. He whole life would be a game of tug o war, but he was determined to win.

 

 


End file.
